[Translated with Google]

After the Champions Cup held last week, WSK Promotion stays at the South Garda Karting in Lonato for the first of the four rounds of the WSK Super Master Series. The championship kicks off with a good turnout of drivers in all four international categories: 74 in MINI Gr.3, 90 in OKJ, 52 in OK and 69 in KZ2. Finally, 49 competitors participate in the MINI Gr.3 U10.

The usual qualifications took place on Friday, and then continued with the first qualifying heats, which will continue throughout the day on Saturday.

KZ2: Birel Art hat-trick, Daniel Vasile in pole position

• If last weekend, on the occasion of the WSK Champions Cup, ended with a good one-two finish in the final, Birel Art Racing continues strongly also in qualifying for the first round of the WSK Super Master Series. Daniel Vasile (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), new signing of the Italian team, flies in qualifying and takes the pole position, beating his teammates Freddie Slater (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing) and Moritz Ebner (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing).


• However, a performance to be framed for Slater: after the surprising debut last week, the British rider is positioned second in qualifying. Well done also Ebner, third in the combined standings.


• It could even have been a Top 5 all branded Birel Art if it weren't for Emilien Denner (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Racing) to put a spanner in the works. The French driver concludes timed qualifying in fourth position, ahead of the WSK Champions Cup champion Cristian Bertuca (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), fifth, and Pedro Hiltbrand (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), sixth .


• Seventh position for Rousseau Corentin (Maranello SRP Factory Team – Maranello – TM Racing), in the first race of the season with the colors of the Maranello SRP Factory Team. Another Birel Art chassis in the Top 10 with the eighth position of Alessio Piccini (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), while the European KZ2 champion Tom Leuillet (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) concludes ninth.


• The tenth position goes to Francesco Celenta (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), beating the competition of Jeremy Iglesias (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing), 11th, Artem Severiukhin (Racing Line – Birel Art – TM Racing ), 12th, David Trefilov (Maranello SRP Factory Team – Maranello – TM Racing), 13th, and Giuseppe Palomba (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), 14th.


• Winner of the second round of the WSK Final Cup right here in Lonato last October, Alex Maragliano (Maranello SRP Factory Team – Maranello – TM Racing) starts his weekend from 15th position. Behind him we find David Liwinski (Haak Motorsport – KR – IAME) and the reigning world champion Viktor Gustavsson (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing).


• After making his debut in the KZ2 category at the last Winter Cup, Alex Powell (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) finished qualifying 33rd, behind Lorenzo Travisanutto (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), 32nd. Noah Milell (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) is 40th.


• Difficult start for Arthur Carbonnel (CRG Racing Team – CRG – TM Racing). The FIA Karting World Cup KZ2 champion does not go beyond 42nd position. Thanks to an injury sustained on skis in recent days, Senna Van Walstijn (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Racing) does not take part in timed qualifying. Adrien Renaudin (DR – DR – Modena Engines) also does not register any valid time.

OK: Luigi Coluccio throws down the gauntlet

• On this view, the South Garda Karting seems to be the favorite track of Luigi Coluccio (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex). In fact, exactly one year ago, the Italian driver had sealed the victory in the first round valid for the WSK Super Master Series and today, practically in the same context, he takes pole position in qualifying with a time of 46.461.


• James Egozi (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) hits the second position, beaten by his teammate Coluccio by just 7 thousandths of a second. However, the American gives the Tony Kart Racing Team one double.


• David Walther (Koski Motorsport – Tony Kart – Vortex) certainly wants to reaffirm his superiority after the victory at the WSK Champions Cup. The Dane does not snatch the pole position from Coluccio by just 4 thousandths of a second and, due to the combined qualifying in third position.


• Simone Bianco (CRG Racing Team – CRG – IAME) takes the fourth position overall, while Tomass Stolcermanis (Energy Corse – Energy Corse – TM Racing) occupies the fifth position, ahead of Zhenrui Chi (Beyond Racing Team – KR – TM Racing) , sixth.


• The two teammates Sebastiano Pavan (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) and Jan Przyrowski (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) finished seventh and eighth respectively. The Top 10 ends with Jimmy Helias (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – Vortex), ninth, and Jakub Kamenic (Gamoto – Tony Kart – TM Racing), tenth.


• Thomas Strauven (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – Vortex) came close to placing in the top ten and finished 11th. Marcus Saeter (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – Vortex) is 12th, followed by Gustav Wisnieswki (Forza Racing – Exprit – TM Racing), 13th, Gabriel Gomez (CRG Racing Team – CRG – IAME), 14th, and Martin Molnar (Energy Corse – Energy Corse – TM Racing), 15th.


• Further back we find Emanuele Olivieri (IPK Official Racing Team – IPK – TM Racing), 17th, Maciej Gladysz (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – Vortex), 18th, René Lammers (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), 29th, and Kirill Kutskov (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), 30th.

OKJ: first pole position for Dries Van Langendonck

• Just over a year ago he won the first round of the WSK Super Master Series in Lonato del Garda in the MINI. Now, on the same track and in the same championship but with the only difference of the jump in the higher category, Dries Van Langendonck (Energy Corse – Energy Corse – TM Racing) conquers the first pole position of his career in OKJ with the fastest lap in group 3 (47.464 seconds).


• The serious accident in Zuera last year for Oleksandr Bondarev (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME) now seems a distant memory. The Ukrainian driver, reigning WSK Super Master Series champion, set the best time in group 2 (47.531 seconds), stopping 67 thousandths of a second behind Van Langendonck.


• Christian Costoya (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing), another great protagonist of last year's WSK Super Master Series in MINI, is also in good shape. The Spanish rider is the fastest in group 1 (47.779 seconds) and takes third place in the combined standings.


• After a less than exciting start to the season at the Winter Cup and at the WSK Champions Cup, Jindrich Pesl (IPK Official Racing Team – IPK – TM Racing) faces the qualifying plans with the second position in group 3 and the relative fourth position in the general classification. We recall that the Czech driver won the WSK Super Master Series title in the MINI category last year.


• Elliot Kaczynski (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – Vortex) scrapes the fifth position at the end of timed qualifying, followed in the standings by his teammate  Mees Houben (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – Vortex), sixth. Sebastian Lehtimaki (Koski Motorsport – Tony Kart – Vortex) occupies the seventh position, ahead of the two Italians Filippo Sala (Sodikart – Sodikart – TM Racing) and Davide Bottaro (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex). Niklas Schaufler (DPK Racing – KR – IAME), vice-champion of the WSK Champions Cup, instead grabs the tenth position.


• On the edge of the Top 10 we find Geramin Skulanov (Birel Art Racing – Birel Art – TM Racing), 11th, Stepan Antonov (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), 12th, Scott Kin Lindblom (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), 13th, and Kian Fardin (KR Motorsport – KR – IAME), 14th. The two teammates Bennett Gaspar (IPK Official Racing Team – IPK – TM Racing) and Sun Xiaoyu (IPK Official Racing Team – IPK – TM Racing) finished 15th and 16th respectively.


• Third last weekend at the WSK Champions Cup, Taym Saleh (Sauber Academy – KR – IAME) is 31st. Even Salim Hanna (Ricky Flynn Motorsport – LN – Vortex), champion of the WSK Open Cup 2022, is 85th.


• Due to a rib injury, Lewis Wherrell (Forza Racing – Exprit – TM Racing) decides together with his team to forfeit for this weekend, after winning the WSK Champions Cup title last Sunday.

MINI Gr.3: Iskender Zulfikari still commands

• Iskender Zulfikari (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME) is not yet satisfied with victories and titles. The Turkish driver also wants to put his signature on the first round of the WSK Super Master Series and moves forward with the absolute best time of 52.223 seconds in qualifying.


• Dean Hoogendoorn (Kidix Driver Performance – KR – IAME) fails to beat Zulfikari by 88 thousandths of a second, however he takes second place in the combined standings. Ilia Berezkin (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME) is the fastest in the third group and finishes third.


• Fourth position for Mariano Lopez (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME), ahead of Bosco Arias Chavarri (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME), fifth, and the WSK Champions Cup runner-up Vladimir Ivannikov (Gamoto – EKS – TM Racing ), sixth.


• The classification continues with William Calleja (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing) seventh, Bogdan Cosma Cristofor (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME) eighth, Ludovico Mazzola (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex) ninth and Gianmatteo Rousseau ( Kidix Driver Performance – Alonso Kart – IAME) tenth.


• Devin Walz (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME) finishes 11th, followed by Oliver Sini (Gamoto – EKS – TM Racing), 12th, by Melvin Kalousdian (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – TM Racing), 13th, by Mark Pilipenko (Modena Kart – Parolin – TM Racing), 14th, and by Ilie Tristan Crisan (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), 15th.

MINI Gr.3 U10: Alessandro Truchot in front of everyone

• He had concluded the WSK Champions Cup with a positive Top 10, but now Alessandro Truchot (Parolin Motorsport – Parolin – TM Racing) is aiming higher and flies to pole position, with the best time of 52.480 seconds obtained in group 2.


• Orlando Rovelli (Kidix Driver Performance – KR – IAME) is first in group 1 of timed qualifying and, in the combined classification, obtains the second position, 72 thousandths of a second behind Truchot.


• Henri Kumpen (Babyrace Driver Academy – Parolin – IAME) earns third position, ahead of Xavier Lazaro (DR – DR – TM Racing), fourth, Roland Nagy (ERT Racing Team – Parolin – TM Racing), fifth, and Niccolò Perico (Energy Corse – Energy Corse – TM Racing), sixth.


• Seventh position for the WSK Champions Cup champion Oleksandr Legenkyi (Team Driver Racing Kart – KR – IAME), while the Top 10 is completed by Sebastian Eskandari Marandi (Tony Kart Racing Team – Tony Kart – Vortex), eighth, Maximus Unt (Ward Racing – Tony Kart – TM Racing), ninth, and David Moscardi (AVRacing – Parolin – TM Racing), tenth.

©Photo: Sportinphoto